Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Mobilised Russians fighting in Ukraine are finding that they're not being allowed to go on leave, even after a year of active service, despite the promises of Vladimir Putin. Relatives are complaining with little success, while the men face deteriorating health. ⬇️

2/ In his original 21 September 2022 announcement of mobilisation, Putin stated that the mobilised would get two months' leave every six months. Soldiers have to petition their commanders for leave, but are commonly finding they're not being given permission.

3/ Radio Free Europe reports that much of the blame lies with individual commanders, according to posts from relatives on social media. "Some people get leave, and some don't, even if you write 100 reports [requesting leave]," Anna Averkina from St. Petersburg writes on VK.

4/ Similarly, Svetlana Cheveleva from Omsk complains about a common stalling tactic used by commanders to prevent people going on leave – they simply ignore requests. "The commander doesn’t sign the leave report, that’s all."

5/ Rina Matrosova says that her husband, who was mobilised on 3 October 2022, has never been on leave. "In the unit they say that only 10 per cent of all personnel can go on leave, and my turn has not yet come, so we are waiting.

6/ Still, being at the front for so long really takes a toll on one's mental and emotional state."

The relatives have been appealing to the authorities for help but find themselves being ignored by officials or receiving unhelpful responses.

7/ Svetlana writes: "Nowhere do they say anything clear, I have applied everywhere I can. I wrote three times to the Defense Ministry, to Putin on the website, to the Prosecutor's Office. In the end, all I get are replies, and no help."

8/ 28-year-old from Olesya Namesnikova from Veliky Novgorod has even considered making a trip to the front line so that she can finally get married to her partner, who has been unable to come home for nearly a year.

9/ "When mobilisation began, he was quickly taken from the region and sent to training in Pskov. We didn't even have time to get married. And now they don't let him go on vacation to get married, and they just don't give him a rest, as required by law.

10/ "I've already exhausted the whole military enlistment office – I’ve been calling them since May. I don't talk to my mother as much as I do to them. And everyone there insists that they can’t do anything.

11/ "Initially, it was said that those mobilised for three months would go to the front line, then at in six months there will be a replacement [i.e. rotation], but in a couple of weeks it will be 12 months [since he was last home].

12/ "When a person hasn't been home for a year, it's just terrible. I thought to come to him and get married, but he is against it. Allegedly there will be unnecessary emotions and worries on my part that will confuse him."

13/ When she wrote to Novgorod regional governor Andrei Nikitin with her concerns, she was told that "on the combat order of the commander of the southern group, the provision of leave has been suspended," but that some men have nonetheless been granted leave.

14/ She is indignant at apparently unequal treatment between artillerymen, who have been granted leave, and frontline infantry, who have not. "Of course, I wanted to say to Nikitin: Fucking shit, these are regular civilians. Why the fuck are they even on the front line?"

15/ Olesya says that her partner "has a disabled father, but even for family reasons, they haven't let him go home for a year.

16/ "Only two or three of the soldiers went home before the 'Bakhmut meat grinder' in May, and now they still haven't resumed taking leave, they just throw them into new hot spots."

17/ Her partner, who is serving with the airborne forces (VDV) has been promoted to command an armoured vehicle, which he proudly calls 'his baby'. However, Olesya says that his lack of rest is taking a significant psychological toll on him.

18/ "He said that when he returns, he needs to see a psychologist and a psychiatrist because he sleeps so badly. And I don't like the look on his face, like he's concussed. I realise that he will come back to me a completely different person.

19/ The most important thing is to make him realize that he is a civilian and the war is over for him. He said that there are times when he doesn't sleep for several days."

20/ The husband of Viktoria from Novosibirsk was not only badly wounded but contracted hepatitis C while being treated. Despite this, military doctors rated him fully fit and sent him back to the front line, while not treating him for the infection, and he was denied leave.

21/ Victoria says: "On 6 February 2023, my husband received a severe mine-explosive wound in Ukraine, after which he was left with shrapnel in his liver, knee, and lung. He only miraculously survived.

22/ "He also got hepatitis C in his blood, which was confirmed by the military medical commission (VVK), but he was still given fitness category "A" [i.e. fit for military service, absolutely healthy and has no health problems], and we have not been paid for the injury yet.

23/ "There were guys with my husband in the hospital in Moscow who were also given category "A" after being wounded, only to be taken back to the war. The VVK apparently believes that if your arms and legs are intact, then you are healthy."

24/ "Before mobilisation, he was in good shape, but now his health is gone, and I don't think he can get it back. I call him a Terminator now, he's full of metal. I studied the laws, hired military lawyers, wrote to the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Defence.

25/ "When I get all the papers in a pile, I will go to the military prosecutor's office and will demand they return my husband. They are obliged to send him to a military hospital, additionally, as hepatitis C makes him ineligible to serve according to the list of diseases."

26/ The Russian Ministry of Defence lists 26 diseases and conditions, including HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes, mental disorders and epilepsy, which make a person ineligible to serve under a contract. It's unclear if it applies to those already serving.

27/ However, she acknowledges that his year on the front line has changed her husband. "He has become more rude, cautious, even his eyes are different. I can't imagine what he will be like when he arrives. The mobilised are people who have just been ripped out of their lives.

28/ "It's a shame because they were promised they'd be home in a few months, but in the end they have no expiration date.

29/ "By law, people with no experience at all were not allowed to be sent to the front lines, but my man almost died there, and now I'm going to do everything I can to bring him home alive."

30/ The commander of Gennady Olifirenko from the Kemerovo region refused to grant him leave to meet his newborn child but his wife persuaded the local prosecutor's office to intervene. When he returned to Ukraine, however, he was thrown into a bloodbath.

31/ Almost his entire unit was wiped out in a failed assault on 31 July, with only 13 men surviving, including Gennady.

"The front is full of crap," says his wife Valeria. "They were simply thrown like meat."

32/ Gennady was wounded, but months later he has still not received his legally mandated compensation for the injury. He was at least granted leave to recuperate at home.

33/ However, Valeria says, Gennady had only got 300 km from the front when his battalion commander called him and said that the computer system had not approved the leave that had previously been granted verbally.

34/ "We didn't go back and, in fact, left without a report," she says. "My husband was admitted to the local hospital, and they found a lot of things wrong with him, although everything was fine in the medical centre from the unit according to the documents.

35/ "A week later, the major wrote: "Are you crazy? Why did you leave, you bastard?" I called the officer and asked on what grounds he insulted my husband. I told him that he had been released for medical treatment and that by law he was entitled to leave twice a year.

36/ The major replied that he would file a desertion report against Gena and he would go to jail. I was not frightened, because we had a certificate that he was in a military hospital.

37/ "But [I said] if it comes to it, I'll meet you in court, where I'll tell you how your soldiers chew napkins and tree roots because they have nothing to eat."

38/ Gennady is clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress, as Valeria relates. "Gena doesn't sleep well because of the horror he's experienced. He may shout in his sleep: "Give me an automatic rifle, I'll beat them".

39/ "Or he sleeps, but if you touch him, he explodes – his eyes are frantic. Sometimes I think, God, I hope he doesn't kill me. I will never let him go to war again." /end

Source:
severreal.org/a/ya-ego-bolsh…